Sephora to open a store within University Mall JCPenny

Sephora, an international cosmetics and beauty products retailer based in Paris, will open a store within a store in Tuscaloosa's JCPenney department store this spring.

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor

Sephora, an international cosmetics and beauty products retailer based in Paris, will open a store within a store in Tuscaloosa's JCPenney department store this spring.The department store in University Mall has signs announcing Sephora will be coming soon, and a Sephora spokeswoman on Wednesday said the Tuscaloosa Sephora at JCPenney is scheduled to open during the first week of May."It is a one-stop shop for people to get all their beauty supplies in one place," she said.Sephora has been opening stores inside JCPenney department stores since October 2006. The spokeswoman said there now are 446 Sephora stores inside JCPenneys and another 29 are will be added in May.Sephora also operates its free-standing stores in malls and shopping centers.Right now, the closest Sephora store to Tuscaloosa is free-standing store in the Riverchase Galleria in Hoover. The retailer also has a free-standing store at The Summit in Birmingham and in the JCPenney store in the Pinnacle Tutwiler Farms shopping center in Trussville. It also has a free-standing store in Huntsville and stores in JPPenney stores in Prattville, Mobile and Spanish Fort.Since announcing its arrangement with Sephora in 2006, JCPenney has been aggressively adding the Sephora boutiques to its department stores. The Sephoras in Penneys typically cover about 1,500 square feet and are smaller than the free-standing stores, according to the company. They also might not have as large of a selection as the regular stores, according to shoppers' online comments, although the Sephora spokeswoman said the Tuscaloosa store will have a large selection of brand-name beauty products including some hard to find brands.She said Sephora will announce the brands that will be at the Tuscaloosa store closer to the May opening.According to Sephora's website, the company has more than 200 beauty brands."These include color from NARS, Bare Escentuals, Make Up For Ever and Urban Decay; innovative skincare lines such as Peter Thomas Roth, Shiseido, Ole Henriksen, Murad and Philosophy; face & body tools from Clarisonic; and fragrance offerings from Dior, DKNY, Marc Jacobs and Dolce & Gabbana," the company website said.Sephora also has its own collection of makeup, skin care, tools and accessories, it said.Under the arrangement with Penney, the Sephora at JCPenney stores are in the center of the department store and handle all the department store's beauty and cosmetics merchandise.Sephora designs its stores to allow customers to browse or consult with its trained staff, whose consultations are independent of the product manufacturers.Financial analysts who follow J.C. Penney Co. Inc. have generally given high marks to company's partnership with Sephora. One analyst last year called it one of the brightest spots in Penney's turnaound strategy.When Penney announced the teaming up with Sephora in 2006, The Associated Press reported that it was designed to lure young female customers to the department store and help erase the dowdy image many had of the department store.On Tuesday, J.C. Penney's chief executive cited Sephora in a financial update on the company's performance during the holiday season.CEO Myron E. Ullman III said during the holiday period, the company's "department stores reported solid performance in several categories including beauty (Sephora), activewear, sweaters, outerwear, dresses, boots, men's clothing, luggage and housewares."Sephora was founded in France in 1970. It is now owned by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, a global luxury goods group.According to the Sephora website, Sephora operates around 1,300 stores in 27 countries worldwide, with an expanding base across North America. It opened its first U.S. store in New York in 1998.